At the Beat of a Hammer
by Brokken
Summary: Lucius has been convicted and was sentenced to life in Azkaban. In addition, another punishment was placed upon him that Draco must follow through with. Bad summary. R for later chapters. DMHG.
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I would be rich and I would have more than 10 worth of savings. Nah, I'm just borrowing them for a while to entertain myself and hopefully others.

Title: At the Beat of a Hammer  
Chapter One

Outside it was mid-November and the clouds veiled off the sky, letting a shade of pale gray settle over the earth. The raindrops eagerly bounced off of the windshields of cars and the multicolored umbrellas of the pedestrians. That was outside and things were very different on this side of the walls. The courtroom was rather small, as far as courtrooms go that is because by normal room standards it was a grand room. Its walls were lined with oak panels making the ceiling stand out in it's prime whiteness against the different browns of the room.

The chairs inside the room were lined up in rows of twenty, and nearly every leather seat had a person sitting in it. These people were very unusual to say the least. They were dressed in robes of different colors and styles, with hats on top of their heads that seemed to all lean in the same direction. That wasn't the most distinct thing about them either, each one of the guests was clutching an approximately foot-long stick in their hand, holding on for dear life. As if that thin piece of wood could save them from any troubles to come. Yes, these people were far from ordinary. Truth is, they were all wizards and witches. Every single one of them that were gathered in this room. Also, that piece of wood – a wand – could very much save them from most troubles that could come that way.

A wood panel near the front of the room fell inward and from the gaping hole emerged the judge with a small entourage consisting of the jury walked behind him. A wig of white curls sat atop his head as he made his way to the front. As soon as he was at the center of the small stage, in front of the podium, every person in the audience rose from their seats and greeted him with the respect he deserved. Sweeping his gaze across the magic folk gathered in the courtroom he cleared his throat and began his speech.

"Today, ladies and gentlemen, we are here to honor our community by setting a punishment for a traitor, a person who used us, a person who ran in the same league as the greatest evil – Lucius Malfoy." His fragile hand, withered down with age, gestured at the only man left standing.

His platinum blonde hair was slightly matted as it lay against his back, pulled back with a black ribbon. His eyes were the palest of blue, treading that fine line between blue and gray, and held such malice that it made it almost unbearable to even look at him. Crevices ran along his eyes and near his mouth, the only thing about him that let the judge know that Malfoy Senior was under some sort of stress, the rest of him was neutrally passive since he showed no emotion in his face.

The orange robe that he had to wear during his stay in Azkaban looked positively ridiculous on the richest wizard in the surrounding area, but even his money couldn't buy his freedom this one time.

The judge finished examining the prisoner and with a nod continued to talk. "He was accused of running in the same league as You-Know-Who, of killing hundreds of muggles, of torturing and slaughtering muggle-born wizards and witches, and of treachery. This Death Eater that stands in front of us at this very moment was proven guilty two months ago when we met in September and now it is time to reveal his punishment for those crimes. Our loyal jury has sat for two months and discussed every aspect of the sentence and today they are finally ready to present to you the result of their deliberation."

The judge took a step back, his robes swishing around his thin frame. From his side, a younger man took a step toward the stand and conjured an envelope. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he nervously surveyed the crowd. He knew that this had to be done, and with a reassuring nod from the judge the representative started to talk.

"Thank you, Your Honor. After two months of hard work, me and my colleagues have decided on a punishment that would serve this traitor right. No, it will not be a Dementor's Kiss," he could hear half of the people gathered in front of him groan in disappointment. "It seemed to us to be the perfect thing, but only at first. We realized that the kiss would only last a short while and wouldn't be enough to revenge all of his crimes. We took everything into consideration, and it became clear to us what we had to do. We knew what Malfoy's number one fear was, and we acted upon it. This will cost us a few sacrifices but in the end we decided that it would be worth it.

"The thing that Lucius Malfoy is most afraid of is contaminating his pureblooded family line."

As that was said, everyone's eyes snapped to where the convicted man stood. It was very much visible as color drained from his already pale face. At once, hundreds of different conversations erupted all over the courtroom and the jury representative had to hold up his hand for a minute in order to get everyone to quiet down.

"So, we have decided that while Malfoy Senior will serve his days in Azkaban, his son will help us punish his father. Draco Malfoy will be ordered by law to marry a muggle-born witch. And no, we aren't dooming the family lineage completely for we have picked the most educated girl of approximately his age to become his wife. They will produce an heir and that child will be acknowledged as the official heir to the Malfoy fortune. The witch that will be bound to marry Draco Malfoy by law will be…"

Murmurs spread over the room once more, names were being said, and it took another two minutes to quiet everybody down before he spoke the name.

"…Hermione Granger. The smartest witch to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in almost a century. She has great potential, and so does the young Mister Malfoy, so the two of them being together has great potential for the entire wizarding world. Yes, we know that the Malfoys are of pure blood and that we are putting a damper on their 'purity' but this is what has to be done."

"By my word, let it be law." The judge spoke the words and hit his wooden hammer against it's platform. Just like that, their life was sealed.

However, no one paid attention to what the two men had to say after Hermione Granger's name was said. Part of the gathering erupted in cheers. Another part started discussing the issue. A third part watched Lucius Malfoy be dragged away by the guards after he had collapsed onto the floor. And yet another part was heading out of the courtroom, obviously shaken.

One of the people walking out was Arthur Weasley, the father of one of Hermione's best friends. He thought of the girl as a daughter and it pained him to hear of what she would have to do. "What's going to happen now? I'm almost afraid to even think about it." He muttered to himself and left the building, stopped by no one.

Flashes burst as pictures of the judge and the juror were taken before they headed back into the black hole in the oak paneling, leaving the people to wander about the events of the day amongst themselves.

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AN: First chapter, what do you think? It's my first try at fanfiction after a year long break. I hope it isn't too bad. Don't forget to review and tell me what you think. Thank you.  
-Brokken


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I would be rich and I would have more than 10 worth of savings. Nah, I'm just borrowing them for a while to entertain myself and hopefully others.

Title: At the Beat of a Hammer  
Chapter Two

Leaning casually against the stands on the Quidditch Pitch at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy waited for his friend to come down and join him for practice. Blaise Zabini, a fellow Slytherin, was due to meet him here at this very spot fifteen minutes ago, but there was still no sign of the boy.

Draco tapped his foot impatiently and continued to stare off into the distance, his cold gray eyes slightly unfocused. Malfoy's platinum blonde hair was gelled back with an extreme amount of goop so that his hair would remain perfect and would not be disturbed by the strong wind. His skin was as pale as ever, a shade of alabaster that was almost translucent. He wore the black school robes that were adorned by the colors of the Slytherin house – green and silver. All in all, he looked like he did on any other day.

Just as he was about to give up and get onto his broom for solo practice, the sullen-looking boy emerged from the other side of the field. He was wearing the same clothes as Draco, but that's where the similarities ended. The newcomer had dark brown hair that was cut short so that nothing distracted the viewer from his eyes that looked like pools of molten chocolate. His complexion was rather tan, the darkest shade of a healthy tan one could have.

Even though Blaise was very much different from Draco in appearance, the two had very similar interests in life and got along very well from an early age. They grew up together, and now that they were at school their friendship didn't diminish.

Malfoy smirked. "What have you been up to Zabini? You were supposed to meet me here fifteen minutes ago." He threw the comment at his best friend while putting his left foot over his broom, getting ready to mount it. Draco didn't really mean it

"I umm got an owl from your mom…" Blaise looked down at the ground at the ground.

Both of them knew that something important had happened for Mrs. Malfoy to contact Blaise, she only did that in situations when there were urgent news for Draco and she had to get it to him by stealthy means.

"You read it, right? What's it about?" Draco asked, getting off of the broom. Whatever this was, it deserved his attention. "Wait… was Father sentenced yet?"

"Yes, that's what the letter is about."

"Alright, tell me." Draco took a deep breath and leaned more against the stands, he knew that whatever was to come next wouldn't be the best thing he would hear in his life, and boy was he right.

"Well, they decided to avoid the Kiss so they gave him life in Azkaban…" Blaise was interrupted by Draco.

"That isn't bad at all, I mean they didn't decide to give him the kiss. That really isn't…" Draco was rambling on and on, his father did get sentenced and he had perfect right to do it, but he had to stop short because Blaise held up his hand.

"That's not all."

"What else can they add when he's locked up for life?"

The brunette took a deep breath. "The other part sort of includes you. That's why your mom sent me the owl."

"What did Mother say then?" Malfoy was getting frustrated.

"Shut it. Stop interrupting me Malfoy and then I might get to the end of the story by tomorrow. So, they found out what your dad was most afraid of and that's where you come in. The jury decided that to hurt your father the most, was to destroy his pureblood legacy. Meaning you will have to marry a muggle-born witch. It's law. Breaking this law is punishable by the Kiss."

"Really?" Draco smirked, it seemed to him that Zabini was making this whole thing up so he expected his friend to confess at any minute.

"Want to read the letter yourself?" Blaise offered his friend the piece of parchment, wrinkled from the many times he folded it while fidgeting.

Draco snatched the paper and scanned it over quickly, then again and one more time to be sure. It confirmed everything that Blaise said. He fell back against the stand, he would have let himself collapse onto the ground but he couldn't appear weak. He was driven up the wall by emotion, mostly confusion at this time because the information hasn't fully sunken it yet. Of course, none of it showed on his face.

"Did they, umm, by any chance give a name?"

"Hermione Granger." Blaise answered plainly and took a step to the side, not wanting to stand in the way of Draco's rampage.

"WHAT! I'm going to marry Potty's little mudblood? A MUDBLOOD! Me?" He shook with anger. "They can't expect me to marry her. She's a flunkie of the Boy-Who-Just-Wouldn't-Die."

"Look, it's final. You should go speak with Dumbledore, maybe he can tell you more."

"Right, the old man would know the solution to this. I mean, A MUDBLOOD." Draco rushed off toward the Headmaster's office, shouting curses at the younger students as they wandered the hallways that morning.

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AN: Yeah, this isn't the best chapter but meh. I hope it isn't too bad. What do you think? Thank you to Hdfan, the first reviewer.  
-Brokken 


	3. Chapter Three

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I would be rich and I would have more than 10 worth of savings. Nah, I'm just borrowing them for a while to entertain myself and hopefully others.

Title: At the Beat of a Hammer  
Chapter Three

It was only seven o'clock in the morning but Hermione was already in the library, pouring over several books at once. It was like any other Saturday morning when the girl would wake up at the brick of dawn, rush up to her favorite room in the castle, and get a head start on her weekend homework. This time around she had an important essay about the XII Goblin War for History of Magic. Professor Binns had expected two scrolls turned in by Monday, but like always Hermione was already ahead of that number and was still far from being done. Such was expected of her. At the moment, she was halfway into a paragraph where she described the death of a general.

That's when Professor McGonnagall, the Transfiguration teacher and the head of Gryffindor house, had found her. The scroll she was currently writing on was almost completely hidden from view by the sixth-year's bushy hair. The professor cleared her throat in order to get the student's attention, "Miss Granger?"

However, the girl was working too intently on the report, so Professor McGonnagall had to repeat herself twice more.

Hermione looked up from the assignment, a fire of interest burning bright in the core of her eyes as she finally noticed that she wasn't alone. "Oh, I'm sorry Professor. I didn't know you were here. It's quite fascinating to read about these later goblin wars, I guess I got caught up in it."

The girl hadn't changed much over the years, or at least not to the point where you could easily point out the change. She still had the dark brown hair that, despite its bushiness, looked like dark chocolate with honey streaks. Hermione's eyes were whirlpools of amber that trapped thoughts and ideas like their color's namesake, keeping them forever suspended in place. Her skin was tan and had an even tone to it, only interrupted by a few scattered freckles sprawled over the bridge of her nose. The girl was always hidden behind the loose, shapeless Hogwarts uniform, so nothing could be said about her body.

When the teacher stood silently over her, Hermione began to worry. "What's wrong Professor? Am I in trouble? Did something happen to Harry? Did I fail an exam?" A look of raw panic crossed her face at the last two questions she asked.

"No no, Miss Granger. Mr. Potter is alive and well, asleep in his bed. And there haven't been any exams these past two weeks, so there wasn't anything you could have failed." However, the grave look on McGonnagall's face didn't vanish as she spoke the words that were meant to comfort her number one student. That worried Hermione, but she didn't rush the news anymore because it only seemed to cause delay.

"Miss Granger, if you would please go up to the Headmaster's office I believe he has something to tell you. It is not as extreme as the examples you provided, but it is something that you should know about."

"I have to put all of these books away, Professor. Not to mention go back to the dormitory and put my things away." Even as she said it, Hermione began to pack up her belongings. Although she was rushing, she still took enough time in order to put each item back the correct way.

"No need to do either of those things, Miss Granger. I will take care of the cleaning and I will see that your things are brought back up to your dormitory. You just worry about getting to the Headmaster's office quickly, the news is urgent." Professor McGonnagall emphasized her words with a curt nod.

"Yes, yes, that's what I should do." Hermione seemed disoriented without her books but she rushed out of the library. There were all sorts of important things that Dumbledore might want to tell her, and she didn't want to keep him waiting. Time was precious, she realized that early in her third year when she had to get around using a time turner.

After five minutes of running up stairs and down hallways she was finally moving on the stairs that lead to Dumbledore's office. She walked into the room and found the Headmaster already waiting for her with a cups of tea set out for the both of them. "I'm sorry Professor that it took me so long to get here…" Hermione started apologizing as she sat down across the table from the Headmaster.

"No need to apologize, Miss Granger." He said in his usual calm manner, taking a sip of his tea. "Butterscotch Worm?"

"No thank you Professor." Hermione took a polite sip from her own cup while staring intently at the Headmaster, waiting for the information that she came for to be given to her.

"Well, we better get right to the point because it wouldn't do anyone any good for you to miss the departure for Hogsmeade. However, before we begin I would like to ask you to promise me that you will hold your questions while I speak so you get the complete story. Can you do that Miss Granger?"

Hermione nodded, taking another sip of the tea to calm herself. She didn't know what this news could be, but judging by how Dumbledore was acting it was something important.

"Very well. The Ministry of Magic has given an order that involves you." Even with this first sentence, the Headmaster could see the color drain from Hermione's face. "You have been chosen, for a variety of reason I believe, to wed a pureblooded wizard. His is partly so you can lead the wizarding world into its new era, a time when muggle-born witches and wizards would be treated just as well as those who are pureblooded, I hope. Also this flow of events is needed to end the pure lineage of a certain family. The Ministry believes that this is ultimately necessary and they picked the best person to help them achieve their goals, a smart girl who is of the same age as the only son of the man who is being punished by this. It is an honor, but a curse at the same time. I would not wish it upon anyone, but I am afraid that this cannot be changed since they have pronounced it a First-Degree Law, meaning that by breaking it you would condemn yourself to be kissed by a Dementor. All in all, it is a complicated fate that they have chosen for you. I do not know why or how they came to this conclusion, I received only the minimal information."

Dumbledore finished his speech, shaking his head in disapproval of what he had just spoke of.

"I-I understand Professor. It is important to the Ministry and I had always wanted to do something useful." Hermione was trying to convince herself that death isn't worse then what was coming up in her future. "I just want to know, who is the person I have to marry?" Her voice became softer and softer as she spoke the sentence, clearly not wanting the answer to this but at the same time needing it.

"The person that you will have…"

The Headmaster's words were interrupted by the sound of the door flying open. Inside stormed in a very pissed off Malfoy who was glaring intensely at Hermione. She despised the Slytherin, she wanted him to burn in the lowest level of hell, and she hated the fact that he interrupted the most important part of her meeting with Dumbledore. Now she'd hate to wait for him to leave before hearing the name of the person she was betrothed to. Surely Professor Dumbledore wouldn't say it in front of the Bouncing Ferret.

But that was exactly what happened.

"The person that you will have to marry, Miss Granger, is Mr. Draco Malfoy."

The silence dawned onto the room, but it was soon interrupted by the breaking of china as Hermione lost her grip on the cup of tea in her hand.

AN: I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, but I had a ton of homework and apparently I can't let my grades slip. Thank you so much for reviewing : SilverSun3 and Gothhottie. And all of the people who added me to their author alert list, I thank you as well. Now, it's time to review. ;  
-Brokken


	4. Chapter Four

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter characters, but the plot is mine.

Title: At the Beat of a Hammer  
Chapter Four

"I'm sorry, Professor." Hermione whispered as she looked down at the shattered pieces of her cup and the puddle of tea that was spreading with every passing second. "I'll clean it up." She spring up from her seat in order to crouch down on the floor and start picking up the shards of china that were lying there.

After a half a minute, she hadn't done much, but two of her fingers were already bleeding.

Behind her, Malfoy sneered with frustration and within the next few seconds a bright orange light shot out of his wand and restored the cup to its original state, with the tea in it once more, in the blink of an eye.

Hermione picked it up, glaring at the floor, and sat back down onto the couch. She wasn't about to apologize to the ferret, even if he was snow white and bouncy. A major reason not to, was the fact that she was going to be forced to marry him, remembering this detail made her glare harder.

"What? No thank you? The Mudblood had no manners. Psh, just like I assumed." Draco laughed, still standing far away from the couch and the bushy-haired know-it-all.

"What did you say Mr. Malfoy?" Dumbledore inquired rising up from his chair slightly, he obviously heard what the boy said, but wanted to give him a chance to correct himself.

"I said, Muggle-born witch." These proper words came off of his tongue with more bite and anger then his first attempt to describe her.

"Hmph." Hermione was too busy with her anger to feel hurt, so she ended up having her anger increased by the remark. She continued to ignore him, believing that he wasn't worth the time, and just took a sip of her tea. The girl scooted farther away from him, huddling by the arm of the couch. Even if she was on the other side of the world she wouldn't be nearly as far away from Malfoy as she would have wanted to be.

"Now, Mr. Malfoy, why don't you join Miss Granger on the couch and we can discuss the situation since it seems that that is what you both want to discuss." Dumbledore motioned to the couch that was stationed on the opposite side of the table from him.

"I'm fine standing, Professor." Draco replied, taking a small step towards the wall, he didn't want to be anywhere near the Mudblood. As far as he was concerned, sitting next to her would be poisonous to him.

"Please sit down, Mr. Malfoy." The Headmaster said, his tone not too friendly anymore. He didn't have much time, and seeing his two best students behave so uncooperatively frustrated him, even though he expected this behavior from them.

Draco mumbled something under his breath, but didn't argue. He had no intentions of making Dumbledore mad. He had seen that mood during his third year when Dementors came onto school grounds during the Quidditch game and he since then he decided that under no circumstances would he want to be the cause of the Headmaster's anger. "Yes. sir." He slowly moved toward the couch, clearly reluctant but trying his best to keep his cool.

Draco sat down as close to the arm of the couch as possible without huddling to it, he was the Slytherin prince and it was his duty to appear calm and reserved no matter what. It was also his duty as a Malfoy, because he was that before he was anything else. For the first time in his life, he had to work hard to keep a stone-cold mask on his face. Of course he succeeded in the end. After all, he was a Malfoy, and Malfoys learned to school their faces from a very young age. Draco was proud of that fact, and remained proud as he sat next to the Mudblood who he would have to marry. That thought made him snap out of his pride, though not completely, and concentrate on the matters at hand. His attention was directed at Dumbledore, because he wanted a way to escape this cruel fate of his.

Hermione at the same time scooted away from him so that now at least one more person could fit into the space between them. After taking another gulp of tea, that was surprisingly warm, she turned her attention to the Headmaster as well.

"Very well, we don't have much time before you two are expected to be down in the Great Hall for breakfast and then I am sure your friends will want you to accompany them to Hogsmeade. Thus we should get straight to business." Both of the students nodded, they both had plans for the trip. "You both know that you have to get married, it is impossible to change the verdict. Your only other option is to let yourself be kissed by a Dementor, but I think you would agree with me when I say that getting married is better then being executed in such a manner."

Hermione stayed huddled to the side, not saying anything. Draco, on the other hand, turned and glared at his supposed fiancé. He didn't want to do this, and he was almost betting that being soul-sucked by a Dementor would be better then marrying the Mudblood.

"Now, the next question is when. I have had a small conference with Narcissa, Mrs. Malfoy, earlier this morning and she had informed me that the wedding will take place in two months. Around January 20th. The details of this will be discussed between her and Hermione when she comes here next Saturday. Draco, all you have to do is pick the rings and get a best man."

The boy smirked before responding, "That's almost too easy. The rings have been picked out since before I was born, a set of Malfoy heirlooms for the heir's wedding. All I'll have to do with that is have them tailored to fit their wearer." Draco took a moment to glare at the girl who sat on the other side of the couch. "Blaise Zabini will be my best man. So I guess there's nothing else I am needed for."

Hermione watched Malfoy stand up and brush the foreign particles off of his robes. When the Headmaster couldn't see his mouth, the ferret whispered quietly in her direction. "Best do something about your fingers, you wouldn't want to soil everything with your dirty blood."

He sneered and headed for the door.

"Now I'm off to enjoy the last two months of my free life. Goodbye, Professor." With a curt nod he opened the door. "Oh, and Granger I hope you keep this quiet. I don't want my free time ruined by rumors of this. Either way, I'll always deny it and you'll end up looking very stupid." And just like that, with a smirk and a slam of the door he was gone.

A low growl came from Hermione, a sound that tread on the border of frustration and anger.

"Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked, of course he didn't expect her to take well to the news but he didn't want anything drastic to happen.

"I'm alright, Professor." Hermione muttered even as she stood up and ran out the door, the tears that fell from her eyes threatening to drown her.

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AN: Here it is, another chapter. Thank you: Gothhottie, Jewel Insert Witty Name Here, SilverSun3, TomFeltonsDance, and cateyezgold for reviewing the last chapter.

Brokken


	5. Chapter Five

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter characters and settings aren't mine, but the plot is and so are any characters that weren't featured in the books.

Title: At the Beat of a Hammer  
Chapter Five 

Hermione walked into the Great Hall when Ron was on his third piece of pumpkin pie, meaning she was more late then usual.

Harry saw her first and scooted over in order to make room for her on the bench. "Hello 'Mione. What took you so long?"

"Oh, well I was working on that essay for Binns and totally lost track of time. Sorry." Hermione shrugged and bit her lip. It might have looked like the gesture was apologetic, but it was actually one of uneasiness because she was lying. The reason that she was late was because after she ran out of Dumbledore's office she spent an hour crying and then another hour trying to hide all of the traces of the tears. Now she looked fresh, due to a Pepperup Potion and some makeup, but she was far from okay. Hermione was tense but otherwise appeared normal, whatever normal was.

"That's all you need to say." Harry shook his head, smiling at his friend's obsession with homework.

"Oh, hello Hermione." Ron said seriously, trying to mask the fact that he was too busy with the pie to notice her sitting down.

"Hey Ron. You've got pie on your nose, just there." She gestured to his nose and turned back to Harry. "So, is there anything specific we're doing at Hogsmeade today?"

"Well, I have a date with Lavender so you and Harry are by yourself. Ginny is on a date with Dean, so she won't meet us for Butterbeer as usual. Harry almost couldn't come himself, he had a date with Parvatti, but then she got sick."

"Shut up, Ron." Harry kicked his best friend in the shins under the table.

"Sorry. You talk to her then." Ron shrugged and turned his attention toward his plate and his fourth helping of pie.

"I'm sorry 'Mione. We were going to tell you, but then we didn't have to because Parvatti got sick." Harry was trying to make up for Ron's mistake, if you could call it that.

"It's alright, at least I don't have to go all alone in the end." Hermione smiled at him, but it hurt her inside to know that her friends were just going to ditch her. However, she didn't dwell on it long since the girl Harry was going to go out with was sick she got to spend time with her friend. It wasn't right to be happy at someone else's sickness, but Hermione couldn't help it just this one time.

"Well, you wouldn't have went if you were alone. You'd probably have just went back to the library to do your homework." Ron put his two cents into the conversation in between spoon-fulls of his pumpkin goodness.

"Thank you, Ronald." Hermione was usually more patient with Ron then this, but events of earlier that morning were still in her head.

"Here Hermione, I saved you some pie." Harry moved the plate with the slice of pumpkin pie over to her. "Sorry that it's only one piece, but that's all I could salvage." He smiled and ran his hand through his unruly jet black hair.

"Thanks, Harry." Hermione smiled before plunging a spoon into the pie and stuffing it into her mouth. Nothing like sweets to help a girl through tough times.

Thinking of that made her glance over to the Slytherin table. She expected anything, anything but what was happening right now. Malfoy was all over Pansy Parkinson. It was disgusting to watch. Hermione glared at him before letting her eyes slip downward to glare at the table, she was afraid that if she continued to look at him that she would start crying again. Her future husband had the slut straddling him, with his hands disappearing mysteriously under her skirt, while she giggled and fed him his food. He seemed to be enjoying himself. It made her sick. Why didn't anyone stop them?

Apparently Harry saw her glaring in the direction. "Did he do anything to you, 'Mione? Because I can crush him to a pulp if he had." She looked up in time to see her best friend's emerald green eyes flash with threat and anger.

"No, Harry, he didn't do anything to me. It's what he's doing now that's bugging me." She withheld the real reason for her statement, but the boys weren't supposed to know. "Too much PDA."

"PDA?" Ron repeated her statement but made it a question before he turned around to look at the green and silver table.

"Public Display of Affection." Hermione answered absentmindedly, each word dripping with venom.

"I think I lost my appetite." Ron said quite loudly, making the entire Gryffindor table turn and stare at him with awed expressions. Ron Weasley losing his appetite? That was something they thought they'd never see.

"Alright, well let's go up to the common room and get everything we need for the day?" Harry interrupted. "Shall we?"

The three of them rose from their seats and made their way out of the room.

All the while, Draco was glaring the retreating figure of his Mudblood fiancée and the two other members of the Golden Trio. When they were out of the Great Hall, his attention turned back to the girl who was entertaining him. He only had two months of this left before he had to get married, and he was going to endjoy himself wholeheartedly.

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AN : Yes, I know it's quite a short chapter, I was originally going to make their Hogsmeade trip part of this but I decided to just go ahead and post this. Thank you : Gothhottie, HGDM lova, and Sophiaelenchild for reviewing chapter four.

Brokken


	6. Chapter Six

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot and any characters you don't recognize from the books. Things you do recognize all belong to JK Rowling.

Title: At the Beat of a Hammer  
Chapter Six

Harry and Hermione emerged happily from the Three Broomsticks, the butterbeer definitely helped cheer Hermione up. She had almost forgotten about the earlier events, almost. They have been at Hogsmeade for the past three hours, visiting one shop after another and talking about their week. At the moment Harry was half-way into his story about how Neville Longbottom, their classmate, made the simplest potion explode and cover the whole classroom with green goo that was later found to be glow in the dark. Harry still had a small glow around him at night, while Hermione used spells too complicated for her friends to clean it off of her in no time. Ron was quite frustrated about the fact that she wouldn't help them get it off themselves while she was at it.

Laughing, the two friends made their way down the street.

"Hey, Hermione? While you go shopping for the dress would you umm mind if I went into the Quidditch store? I mean, dresses don't interest me and Quidditch doesn't interest you unless you're cheering for Gryffindor so we wouldn't have to do things we don't really want to do." Harry felt unsure asking that, he didn't want to hurt Hermione's feelings but he really didn't want to stand in the shop with a purse in his hands watching girls squeal whenever they find something they like.

Hermione smiled, she didn't particularly want to go and look at brooms today either so she was rather quick to agree to his idea. "Yeah, how about we'll meet at the gate in an hour?"

"Sure." Harry looked obviously relieved.

"See you then." Hermione waved him goodbye and turned to walk toward the store where all the girls would be shopping for their Holiday dance. It was a month away, but apparently you had to order it ahead of time since the shop would be busy with other dresses. She sighed, she could have done without being pushed around by the more eager of her classmates but she promised Ginny that she would buy a dress today and she never went back on a promise if she could help it.

Walking into the store, she saw that it wasn't as full as she had feared. Better for her actually, she didn't want to be trampled. For this ball it was decided that they would enforce the Muggle way of dressing. That meant dresses for girls and suits or tuxedos for the guys. The Slytherin house wasn't happy when it was announced, but now she could see a few of the girls looking through the catalogs excitedly oohing and aahing.

"Do you need help, Miss?" A perky saleswoman called to Hermione from her desk. The woman was pretty; she had well tanned skin and brown hair. Her green eyes were brought out by the green of her robes.

With a sigh she walked over, smiling sweetly. She sat down on the chair and as soon as she did, the saleswoman began to talk. "I'm Madeleine and I take it you're from Hogwarts? Looking for a dress for the Holiday Ball? We've had quite a few girls your age come in already. Is there anything in particular that you are looking for?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow and thought about the questions she was bombarded with. The truth was, she didn't know what she wanted in a dress. "Umm.. anything that isn't too revealing? I really don't know."

"We'll start with that and explore all options." Madeleine grinned and tapped the white cover of the catalog and the book flipped open. The first page had small four by four pictures with general styles of dresses. The catalog quickly had all of Hermione's attention, even before the saleswitch pushed it toward her. All of he dresses she saw were pretty, but way too fancy for the occasion.

"These are all gorgeous, but is there anything more plain? Something simple?" The Gryffindor girl asked after looking through all of the pictures offered to her.

"Yes. We have a few." Madeleine said with a sigh. She really didn't understand her customer, usually girls her age wanted extravagant things with a lot of decorations and things that looked expensive. However, she complied to the girl's wishes because it wasn't her place to try to tell her what was best. She was to sell the girl what she wanted, not to force her to buy something that others might want. With those thoughts, she tapped the page and another set of pictures appeared. There were only five of them and they looked very simple compared to the ones previously seen.

Hermione smiled, she liked a few of the dresses she saw in this selection. There was one dress that stood out to her though, it was a dress that bared her shoulders and hung down to the floor. It had no decorations or sequence on it but it still looked worthy of wearing to the ball. The fabric was black and red, alternating from one to the other depending on where the light hit it.

She was still staring intently at that dress when she heard people walk into the room. It didn't take her long to realize that the high squeaky voice belonged to the pudgy-faced Slytherin girl her alleged fiancé was making out with that very morning. All of a sudden she felt nauseous. Her butterbeer tried to rush out of her body the way it came in as she began to stand up.

"I want the number 792. In red. Please deliver to Hermione Granger, Dorm 18, Gryffindor, Hogwarts." She rushed the words and ran out of the store. At least she made the purchase; she dropped ten golden coins onto the table before she stormed past the other customers.

Madeleine took down the information but did nothing else. She already had her eyes set on the Slytherins. By the looks of things, they would need something fascinating and she was ready to help them make the best and most important purchase.

Meanwhile, Hermione ran straight to the Gryffindor common room. She sat there, staring at the fireplace and ignoring everyone that tried to talk to her. The only time that day she answered was when Harry came back saying that he waited for an hour for her and even went inside the shop. He said that he was worried, and Hermione felt bad for not considering his feelings when she lost control. She quickly lied though, telling him that she forgot to mail a birthday card to her cousin.

The evening passed quietly with the boys playing wizard's chess and her just watching them. They still didn't know her major news, and Hermione decided that they wouldn't. They wouldn't know until it was time for the wedding; only then she'd tell them, but only because she wanted them by her side. With another sigh, she went to sleep hoping that the next day wouldn't be as horrible as the one she just lived through.

* * *

AN: Sorry it took such a long time, but I was really busy with schoolwork. I think that the next chapter will be up sooner. Yes, I know my writing is bad but I don't have a beta-reader nor the time to check it myself. Unless you'd rather have me take longer and edit it myself… but erm I hope you can bear with me.

Thank you: Gothhottie, HGDM lova, Green Falcon, Krickette, blonde-brain, jesus4ever, and Vashka for reviewing.

Brokken


	7. Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: No I do not own the Harry Potter characters. The only things that are mine are the plot and the things that you don't recognize from the books. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling

Title: At the Beat of a Hammer  
Chapter Seven 

The week rushed by Hermione quickly, but not unnoticed. Every day she saw her friends cuddling on the couches near the fireplace, obviously in love. Every day she watched them, mourning the loss of something she never had and now will never have. She would never be able to do that now, not once in her lifetime, now that she was engaged to Malfoy. She always had the option to do what Malfoy was doing and enjoy her last free moments with a random Gryffindor but she couldn't bring herself to cheat on her fiancé, even if he was Malfoy. With a sigh she turned her attention back to her friends who were in the middle of a conversation she was supposed to pay attention to.

"…haven't had a decent meal in days! Or at least not at any times I'm supposed to. I swear that if we didn't know how to get to the kitchens I'd have lost a few pounds by now. Just thinking about that ferret and his pureblooded whore makes me want to hurl." Ron's face showed disgust, and even turned a peculiar shade of green.

"Yeah, that was pretty bad." Ginny made an imput to the conversation before turning back to kiss her boyfriend.

Harry frowned but didn't have time to remark because Ron started talking heatedly about his missed food again.

"Pretty bad! Blimey it was bloody terrifying. I'm going to have nightmares."

"Yes, I agree with you Ron." Hermione smiled at him. She already was having nightmares about Malfoy, whether it did or didn't have anything to do with Pansy.

"At least someone agrees with me." Ron smiled back and offered her some of the candy he was eating. "Chocolate frog?"

"No thank you. Even though I really want to take it, I'm watching what I eat because my dress for the ball won't be making any allowances." She smiled again. Inside she was hoping that the girls will snatch this topic up and continue talking about the ball. Hermione didn't want to talk about her fiancé or anything related to him.

Her plan worked like a charm when Parvatti exclaimed, "So you went to buy the dress? What does it look like?"

"Yeah, yesterday Harry went to the Quidditch shop and I went into the dress store. You'll see it at the ball."

"Oh come on 'Mione! Why won't you tell us?" Lavender joined the conversation. The girl sat there, wrapped in Ron's arms, with a big smile on her face. These kinds of conversations, about clothes and makeup and other things related, where her favorite.

"It's a surprise." Hermione shrugged. She really didn't want to talk at the moment, she would much rather listen to her friends' conversation so that she could get distracted from that one thing that has been on her mind all week.

The girls continued to talk about dresses and other ball-related things. Around midnight they all tiptoed up to bed, falling asleep quickly, tired from the week's events.

Morning found Hermione curled up under the blanket, her head buried in her pillow. Dawn was a few minutes away when she heard someone calling her name and poking her gently with something.

"Miss Granger, wake up."

After a few more pokes her eyes fluttered open and she saw Professor McGonnagal standing over her. The head of Gryffindor house came to wake her up? What was so important? Hermione sat up in bed, pulling the covers closer around herself to keep warm.

"What's wrong Professor?" She whispered, obviously worried.

"Nothing is wrong, Miss Granger. But you do have an appointment with your future mother-in-law in a few minutes and I don't think it would be right if you were late."

Hermione gasped. She had completely forgotten that Narcissa Malfoy would be paying her a visit today. She jumped out of bed and ran for the chest that held her clothers.

"Get dressed and come down to the common room as quickly as possible. I would advise to not to keep Mrs. Malfoy waiting, ever." With those words, McGonnagal left the dormitory and left Hermione to get dressed.

Within five minutes, Hermione was rushing out of her the girls dorm in her Hogwarts uniform. Her hair was brushed, even though it didn't look like it, and bounced up and down as she ran down the stairs. The common room was deserted so she didn't need to explain to anyone her rushing off to somewhere with Professor McGonnagal at the break of dawn.

A few minutes and many hallways later, they were in front of a room that Hermione didn't recognize. The door was a massive slab of oak. The girl was almost afraid to go inside.

"Alohamora." The Transfiguration professor opened the door and walked through. Hermione's jaw dropped at what she saw. The room looked out of place in the middle of dusty classrooms at Hogwarts. One wall was completely covered by a mahogany book shelf, which was filled with enough books to make the girl gasp. The rug that stretched was traditional with a trace of maroon here and there that picked up on the color of the wood. There was also a large leather couch and a few matching chairs surrounding a coffee table. A chandelier and a fireplace finished off the room.

It looked so extravagant that Hermione thought it was some trick of illusion, maybe it was a spell to make her see something that wasn't there. She blinked, hoping that this room would be replaces by a dark classroom. Then she'd know what to do because standing in this room, she was almost afraid to sit down.

"This is the meeting room. Whenever visitors come to Hogwarts and they have to talk to someone they use this room for that purpose. The minister of magic often talks to Professor Dumbledore here instead of the Headmaster's office. This is where you will meet Mrs. Malfoy whenever she requests." Professor McGonnagal turned around and headed for the door. "I trust you can make yourself comfortable on the couch Miss Granger."

And just like that, Hermione was left all alone in the foreign room. However, she wasn't alone for long. Ten seconds later she heard a loud sound and a green fire blazed from the fireplace. The Gryffindor froze in place as Narcissa Malfoy stepped into the room.

She was wearing a lavender silk robe with pears around her wrists and neck. In every way, she looked very expensive and perfect. Her hair was elegantly pulled over and back and adorned with a pearl pin. She would have been beautiful if the strong disgust didn't show on her face. It was as if she was sniffing fresh dung.

Hermione thought that her disgusted expression couldn't get any worse but she was wrong, as soon as her future mother-in-law saw her it got about twice as bad. Hermione stood still as the adult witch looked over her critically.

"So you're the Mudblood who my son has to marry?" Her voice was flat and held just as much disgust as her face did. She sneered and pointed to the couch. "Sit."

Hermione didn't like being addressed as if she was a dog, but she was too scared of the woman to not comply. Who wouldn't be afraid of You-Know-Who's right hand man's wife? Coming to that conclusion, the Gryffindor stiffly walked over to the couch and sat down. She sat very still with her eyes lower to her hands on her lap.

"Now, here are a few things you need to know before we begin. For one, you should be very glad that I value Draco's life more than anything otherwise you'd already be dead. You listen to what I tell you and you follow the rules, because you don't ever want to find out what the concequences will be if you don't. I hate you and Draco hates you. We're only tolerating you because if the two of you don't get married then he will be worse then dead. Do you understand that Mudblood? You're not going to expect any special treatment just because you're the Mudblood that they chose to marry my Draco. You're on the lowest step on the social ladder so never talk back to me. Actually, don't talk unless you are asked." Narcissa finished her speech off with a sneer.

All throughout this time, Hermione stared at her hands. Her eyes were watering and it took a lot of concentration to ensure that she didn't let the tears fall. She had a feeling that that won't be tolerated.

"Now, when you are addressing me you can call me Narcissa. I'll only have to refer to you by your actual name in public. What is your name, Mudblood?"

Hermione remained silent.

"I asked you a question Mudblood."

"Hermione." She answered quietly. It was harder to fight back the tears now, but she had to do it. She couldn't appear weak. _You can cry later_, she told herself and raised her head higher to look at Narcissa. "When is the wedding going to be?"

"Anxious aren't we?" Narcissa smirked and sat herself down gracefully onto the seat across from Hermione.

_To get this over with_, Hermione answered the question in her head but didn't voice any of it out loud.

"Very well, we might as well get down to business. I don't have all day to waste on you. Of course, Draco's wedding has to be perfect, but I'd rather not have to deal with you. I would do just that, but Dumbledore and the court seem to think that you deserve a say in the subject matter."

Hermione just nodded, and waited for any further details to her wedding.

"Here's what has been set already. The wedding will be on January twenty-second. It will be held at the Malfoy Mannor. There won't be a reception. There won't be a honeymoon. Those things aren't needed. You can, right now, choose three things that you will have a say on for the wedding and that's all. Other things will be handled by me."

The girl just sat there for a moment, evaluating her options. She took a deep breath and announced her decision. "I want to be able to choose my bridesmaids and my maid of honor. I would also like it if I was able to choose my own dress. I would also want Malfoy to wear a suit. Not a tuxedo, not a robe, but a suit."

"Fine. But everything else is my decision. Do you agree to that?"

"Yes."

"Very well." Narcissa continued her questions. She had things to do, and in truth she needed a shower after spending so much time in the same room as a Mudblood. "Now, who would be your maid of honor and your brides maids?"

"Maid of Honor will be Ginny Weasley, the bri.." Hermione was interrupted to Narcissa's outraged exclamation.

"You can't expect me to have a Weasley in the wedding? I doubt she'd be able to pay for the dress anyways."

"She's coming and if I have to I'll buy the dress for her." The sentence came out of Hermione's mouth with a slight growl evident in her voice. Now that shock and most of the fright wore away she was actually able to get angry. "The bridesmaids are Lavender Brown and Parvatti Patil."

Narcissa sighed, she did say that the girl could choose the people who would fill those positions. She couldn't go back on her word, that kind of publicity wasn't good for a Malfoy. "Very well. This is all we really need to discuss today. I will help Draco choose his suit sometime closer to the wedding. Next week I will come by to get the measurements for the wedding dress and you can tell the people what you would want in the dress then. Think of it this week, Draco's bride has to look perfect."

With those words she got up and quickly walked to the fireplace. Before she used to the flue powder to get back to the Malfoy Mannor she mumbled something about taking a nice long bath and getting rid of these soiled robes. "Stupid, dirty, contagious Mudbloods." With those words she was gone in a burst of green.

Hermione walked out of the room, the information that she just got stuffed into her brain left her shaken.

* * *

AN: I really wanted to add something about 'stirred' at the end but it sounded too corny. Here's a faster update and a much longer chapter. It's not that good, I don't think. But I still don't have a beta reader. Xx

Thank you : TomFeltonsDancer, HGDM lova, Gothhottie, and BlueEyedDolly

Brokken


	8. Chapter Eight

Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter. He and everything related to him belongs solely to JK Rowling.

Title: At the Beat of a Hammer  
Chapter Eight 

"Sorry we're late 'Mione." Harry said apologetically as he sat down next to her. "Ron forgot his potions book back at the dorm so we had to run back up to get it.

"It's alright, I only got here a minute ago myself." Hermione looked past Harry to her other friend and smiled. Apparently they did run upstairs and down to the dungeons because Ron was obviously out of breath when he fell back into his seat.

Today she was in a fairly good mood, since she managed to grab ten whole hours of sleep last night and the highest marks on an Arithmancy exam. The fact that she hadn't seen Malfoy for several days made it even better. After last week's meeting with Narcissa, Hermione had managed to avoid her fiancé completely. If I ignore the monster under the bed it would go away. Right?

However, she already knew that she wouldn't get that lucky today. It was Friday and today the Gryffindors had double potions with the Slytherins, so they were bound to be in the same room. No one dared to miss Friday's potions lessons unless they were gravely ill. Even Slytherins weren't excused.

Behind her she heard the shrill laughter of Slytherin girls and a few "Oh Draco"s followed by dreamy sighs. Hermione didn't have to turn around to know that Malfoy came into the classroom draped in his harem of girls. She stared forward instead, at nothing in particular, and let her frustration out by glaring at stray particles of dust that flew by her.

"You okay?" Ron asked, oblivious to the ferret.

"Yeah, sorry. Just daydreaming." Hermione responded, her eyes following a new dust particle.

Harry snapped his fingers in front of her face, successfully bringing her attention to him. "You sure? Because you're glaring."

"That's true, Hermione. You look like you're about to kill." Ron added in turn.

"I'm fine. It's just about.. It's a Muggle thing." She lied, knowing that Ron would just dismiss it, because no matter what, he couldn't understand anything about Muggles. Even if his life depended on it.

Just as she expected, Ron shrugged it off with a murmured "Okay."

Harry, on the other hand, wasn't about to let it go. On the contrary, he was about to ask more questions. Thankfully he never got the chance. As soon as he opened his mouth the camouflaged door at the back of the room flew open and Snape strode in, his robes billowing around him.

"Open the books to page three hundred twenty-eight." He drawled. The class was silent, only the sound of pages flipping could be heard within the room. It wasn't only Neville that was afraid of the greasy-haired potions master, but he was the only one who had trouble turning the pages of his textbook.

"We are going to be making a Dust Removal potion. Useless and too hard for you fools to make, it is part of the curriculum and it is good practice for the much more precise and intricate potions you will be assigned later on." Snape sat down at his table and took out a piece of paper with a list scribbled on it. "You will be working with partners, listen for your name and then move to sit with the person.

"Weasley and Thomas. Potter and Goyle. Bullstrode and Crabbe. Patil and Zabini. Malfoy and Granger." The names continued but Hermione wasn't paying attention anymore. It was just her luck to be partnered up with the one person she wanted to get away from. "Longbottom and Parkinson. The ingredients are in the cabinet. Follow the instructions in your books, I trust you can do that. When done, put a stopper on it, write your names, and place it on my desk. Get on with it." He snarled the last four words and the class turned to be as busy as an anthill, someone scurrying in this direction or the other.

"It won't be that bad Hermione." Parvatti assured her.

"You'll still get full marks, and even though he's Malfoy he is the second best one at potions in our year." Lavender added, standing up to go sit with her partner.

"Right…" Hermione said uncertainly while picking up her belongings and walking reluctantly over to the Slytherin side of the room. Her fiancé was still snogging the Parkinson whore. Hermione dropped her things next to them, announcing her arrival quite loudly. "I'll get the first five things." Her eyes flashed with anger as she stormed off toward the ingredients cabinet.

When they both got back to their seats, somehow Draco managed to be there first, they began to make the potion. Cutting unevenly and stirring too roughly, the pair was silent but exceptionally angry.

About twenty minutes before the class was over, Hermione was looking into the cauldron when she noticed that something wasn't right. Their purple potion sprouted a lime green bubble. The Gryffindor quickly read over the recipe again, but it didn't say anything about green bubbles.

"Malfoy?"

"I don't have time for you." Was his reply but he wasn't doing anything which frustrated Hermione even more.

"Malfoy!" Her voice seemed more anxious now that the bubble was getting bigger with every passing second.

"I don't talk to Mudbloods." He hissed, blowing her off again.

"Damn it Malfoy. Can't you stop being an egotistic jerk for a second and notice that there is something wrong with the potion!"

"What!" Draco jumped down from the desk he was sitting on and peered into the cauldron where the bright green bubble was growing profusely. "It's all your fault Mudblood."

"Oh my God, I think it's going to…" before Hermione finished her sentence the bubble burst. Green and purple goo covered everybody and everything and the smell was atrocious.

"Blow?" Malfoy asked, glaring at her, an especially large glob of goo sliding down the left side of his face.

"LONGBOTTOM!" Snape yelled, thinking that the misfortunate boy was responsible for this explosion.

"It wasn't our cauldron that exploded, sir." Pansy Parkinson sounded flabbergasted that the head of her house was suggesting that she let the potion explode.

Snape looked around the room, coming to Hermione and Draco last. He was shocked by the fact that his best students were the ones that failed but regained his composure quickly. "Granger, Malfoy. You have some explaining to do. Later though. Everybody of the room, we don't know how dangerous this concoction is."

Some girls shrieked and panicked when they realized that they might be in danger. However, they managed to get everyone out quickly without any more mishaps. When they were outside, it was only two minutes until class was over so Snape let everyone go. Everybody except Draco and Hermione.

"What happened back there?" Snape glared down at Hermione.

"She stirred it too roughly!"

"He cut the ingredients unevenly."

"She put in too many Rododenhedrons."

"He added the snake powder before the owl eye."

"ENOUGH." Snape barked. "You are both at fault."

"But…" Draco was going to say that he was a pureblood and a Slytherin but Snape ignored him.

"Tomorrow, you will both come here at ten o'clock sharp and clean up the mess you made. And then you would have to make the potion properly."

"But Professor…" Hermione protested, she had a meeting with Narcissa early in the morning and didn't know how long that would last.

"Tomorrow. Ten. I trust you to be able to at least follow these instructions, Miss Granger." Snape was already halfway down the hall. The rest of the day went by in a flash, nothing interesting happened nor did Hermione see the ferret again.

Saturday morning, Hermione woke up when the sun rose and made sure that she looked presentable for the meeting. Presentable meant that she brushed her hair a minute longer then usual. Narcissa was surely going to comment on her appearance. So why bother?

At about the same time as last week, Hermione stood outside of the meeting room. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open. To her surprise, Narcissa was already there and so were four other women whom she didn't recognize.

"Ladies, this is the girl who has to marry my Draco. You have to help her choose a dress that will work well with her complexion, since she will be a Malfoy afterall. I don't care how much it costs, but it has to flatter her or else she wouldn't look good for the wedding nor would she look well in the pictures." Narcissa commanded the seamstresses. They nodded and started rummaging through their equipment. "I will be back in about three hours. I expect to have her measured and a dress hologram around her when I get back. Now get to work." With those final words she grabbed some flue powder and was gone.

As soon as the smoke cleared, everybody let out a breath that they were carefully holding.

"What's your name?" One of the women called out, still looking through her things.

"Hermione." The girl responded timidly.

"Okay then, dear. Could you take off your robes and uniform? Mrs. Malfoy requested very precise measurements." A plump lady came over to her from the left, a measuring tape in her hands.

"Right here? Right now?"

"Yes girl, we don't got all day." Another seamstress answered impatiently.

"Alright." Hermione had expected this but she wasn't prepared for it. She never imagined them to ask her so bluntly either. But what Narcissa wanted, Narcissa got. No one wanted to go against her. So, with a sigh she let her clothes fall away. In no time she stood standing there in only her knickers and a tank top. Both were black and conservative.

At least an hour passed before all of the measurements were taken. The plump lady measured everything possible and called them out to be recorded by one of her colleagues. Hermione was blushing throughout the process, not getting used to it in the slightest.

Hannah, the plump seamstress who measured her, collapsed onto the couch, tired and out or breath from her job. A younger woman, introduced as Sophie, motioned Hermione toward an empty seat. "Sit down, won't you? You must be tired of standing by now. You can put your robe on too, at least for now. We're just going to talk about the styles of dresses you can choose from."

Hermione complied without a sound.

"Alright. So do you want your dress to be white?" Nod. "Strapless?" Hermione shook her head. "Sleeveless?" Another shake. "Longsleeved?" The bride nodded. "Long skirt?" Another nod. "Train?" She shook her head again.

"Do you want it to be simple or elaborate?" Sophie asked, marking every answer Hermione gave her in a book.

"Simple. Very simple." The girl stressed the word 'very.' She just wasn't into sequence and such.

"Alright, simple." Another mark on the page. "But is it going to be elegant and sexy or just a plain white dress?" Sophie raised an eyebrow at her client.

'Mione was about to answer 'plain' but reconsidered. "Elegant please." It was her wedding after all, and she would remember it forever. Good or bad. Still, saying the word made her blush.

"And sexy?" Hermione nodded, blushing even harder. Sophie made the final mark on the page and looked pleased.

"Okay then, So based on your answers, here are the choices we have to offer you." She waved her wand and as soon as she tapped the page with it, dresses flew off of the pages and into the room. They circled around Hermione like homeless ghosts looking for a master, showing themselves off to her. The girl sat in the middle, mesmerized.

"Go ahead, pick one." Hannah encouraged.

For another few minutes she watched one or another. Uninterrupted, she examined and evaluated them from different angles. Finally she raised her hand and pointed to the dress she had picked. Immediately all of the other dresses disappeared so that only the one she chose floated in its place in front of her.

"Nice choice." One of the other two seamstresses noted. "Now just stand right over there and we will hologram it onto you."

"Hologram?" She knew what the term meant, but wasn't sure what was going to happen in this case.

"Yes, it will look like you are wearing it but you won't feel it on you. It's a very convenient method."

"Okay." Hermione walked over to where the woman wanted her to be and stood very still, waiting to feel somehow different. She didn't. All of a sudden she just saw the dress appear on her. She twirled and it still felt like she was wearing her robes but visually, the dress spun around her naturally. "Wow." Was all she could say.

"Yes, it's neat isn't it?" Sophie grinned at her, obviously pleased. "Too bad they only last for fifteen minutes."

Hannah came over holding a full-body length mirror that she conjured up. "So go ahead, give it a once over while it lasts."

Hermione glanced at the mirror and gasped in surprise. It wasn't an entirely good gasp either. Sure she looked good in the dress. It fit quite nicely, or at least the hologram dress did. It made herlook innocent and fragile. It was made out of plain white stretchy material that clung tight to her skin at the top but the skirt flowed with even the slightest movement. It left her shoulders bared but didn't have a deep neckline. However, she herself looked horrid. Dark circles under eyes that were puffy and red from crying too much. Her skin was pale and blotchy. Her nose was red and her lips chapped. Even her hair, which she thought looked fine a few hours ago, was frizzy and oily and all over the place.

"What a sight. I look like a virgin sacrifice on crack." Three of the seamstresses laughed, but one didn't get the joke. Hermione didn't have time to explain any of it because Narcissa walked into the room. Everyone froze.

* * *

AN: This is only half of what I was planning to write.. but it's already six pages so yeah. The other half will come later. Thank you: HGDM lova, dawn-miko, TomFeltonsDancer, BlueEyedDolly, blonde-brain, and Gothhottie for reviewing.

Brokken


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